Keep recess in play, doctors urge

Helps build better attention span, behavior and creativity

8:19 AM,
Dec. 31, 2012

Written by

Michelle Healy
| USA Today

Recess is good for a child's body and mind, and withholding these regular breaks in the school day may be counterproductive to healthy child development, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics' first policy statement on the issue.

Increasing pressures on schools to find more time for academics has resulted in "an erosion of recess time around the country," says statement co-author Robert Murray, a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University. "But we have a couple of decades of research now that indicates that recess plays a huge role in a child's life, and not just because it's ...